Has anyone noticed a decline in interest in Lolita fashions? I was writing a paper on the style and kind of realised just how old the style really is and how there don't seem to be too many people wearing it anymore in my area. The new thing I noticed in Japan is Mori girls and Dolly kei. Thoughts?

Not really. If anything interest has increased substantially overseas in the past 3-5 years. New brand releases (especially for stuff like Angelic Pretty prints) are still selling out, the online community for lolitas is still growing, and magazines that aren't lolita-specific like Kera still feature lolita. It's changed quite a bit since the beginning, but change is necessary for growth and holding interest.

New styles pop up a lot in Japan, and lately Dolly Kei and Cult Party Kei and such have been getting more popular, but it's rare for styles just to stop existing when others move in. There are also still plenty of gyaru around, for example.

Also in relation to your area in particular, that could be for a number of reasons. People leave the style and enter the style kind of randomly, so it might be that a few people have left it and new people haven't joined recently. Also outside of Japan groups vary a lot in size depending on location. I see quite a few posts on the EGL LJ community from girls who are pretty much the only lolitas in their area. Also just because you don't see them doesn't mean they don't exist! Maybe the community isn't as active about getting together as it used to be, and a lot of people only wear their clothes for outings.

It could also be because a lot of 'veteran' lolitas wear it regularly but don't post online as much. Also if your local community has been around for a while they might tend to not publicize meetups as they may become more like hangouts between friends.

I honestly couldn't say that there is a decline in the fashion, though. Especially since for our last meetup here in NC we had about 10-20 new girls I haven't seen before! And there have been so many brand-shops and lolita boutiques popping up in major cities in the last few years.

I was in Harajuku a couple of weeks ago and I saw a lot of Lolitas in a circle right near the train station, and I went a couple days before that and I saw one, so maybe it just depends on the day. I also saw one in Yokohama at the train station too. I dressed up in Lolita meself and went to Ikebukuro and saw a couple there.

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I'm a veteran. I'm more along the lines of Aristocrat than Lolita. I'm not particularly fond of Lolita.

In general, with those of us that are older (I'm in my mid-20s and have been into lolita since around 2003-2004) it's as someone stated upthread - we wear our clothing but we aren't huge photographers the way that we used to be. We save that for the people who are more into it.

In the US, it's becoming more mainstream. Prior to 2010, it was a very fringe fashion. Now, I can walk around in my community and occasionally see a lolita. Lolita is also being sold in the US now, so it's much more likely to see people walking about in Lolita. Lolita in Japan, however, is on the decline compared to, say, 2003-2007. You will, however, see a lot of it at conventions, because there are a lot of people like me - I would rather wear a legit fashion (kimono/aristocrat), rather than cosplay. And if the fashion is done properly, you will always amass a lot of admirers.

I think that, as stated above it's just that the older or more veteran the Lolitas are the less interest in being "out" they have, hence it seems the interest in declining. But as stated, if anything it's growing in America.

Japanese Lolita and American/European Lolita is very different, so don't go by the fact that if it declines there it'll decline everywhere else. Japanese street fashion is growing and growing every year, but nothing is ever lost but evolves, like Kawaii and Decora. ^^

Sometimes I feel that is more of an american online thing...there arent many meetups were I live. But I found a few bookstores (Little Tokyo in LA ans Mistuwa Mart in Costa Mesa) That have updated lolita magazine such as Alice De La Mode that I pick up. They keep me updated and remind me the look is defiantly developing and changing It inspires alot of my design work.